


Vid Night

by Revans_Mask



Series: Melanie Shepard [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Post Mass Effect 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-10 18:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revans_Mask/pseuds/Revans_Mask
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Shepard mini-series debuts and Liara tries to get her wife to watch it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Shepard and Liara

“Come, Shepard. It’s going to start in a few minutes.”

“Are we really going to watch this?”

“You did consult on it. Aren’t you even a little curious?”

“If they were going to make this thing anyway, I wanted to make sure they didn’t screw it up too much. But fine, if you insist.”

“Excellent. I have made popcorn.”

Melanie Shepard curls up on the couch next to her wife, wrapping one arm around Liara T’Soni’s shoulder while the other takes a handful of popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table. “I am looking forward to seeing one thing,” Shepard admits between bites.

“And what is that, love?”

“What the actress playing you looks like.”

Liara laughs and teases her, “Are you hoping that she is better looking than me?”

Shepard leans over for a passionate kiss. “Not possible. But I’ve had to deal with my doppelganger on those extranet ads for months and now it’s your turn.”

Liara smiles. “You could have just watched the trailer.”

“I barely agreed to watch the series. Besides, given your background, I’d think that you’d be particularly bothered by the inevitable historical inaccuracies, Doctor T’Soni”

“It is not exactly intended to be a serious scholarly work. Also, it is starting.”

“Every war has its legends. Champions rise from the fire of battle and our greatest war produced our greatest heroes. Steven Hackett. Urdnot Wrex. Adrien Victus. But there is one name in particular that will live forever, one name that all the galaxy knows. This is her story, the story of Shepard.”

As Melanie groans, the music swells and the opening credits of the first installment of the mini-series begins to play, a montage of action shots featuring the main cast, beginning of course with the actress portraying Shepard. “She does look a lot like me,” Melanie concedes.

“I am told that she spent a month training with the Alliance military to prepare for this role.”

“I’m sure that qualifies her to be a Specter.”

“Now you are simply being difficult.”

“Maybe a little.”

When the asari playing Liara appears on the screen, the scientist turns to Melanie and says with a playful earnestness, “She is quite pretty.”

“Not nearly as pretty as you,” Shepard smiles, pulling her wife on top of her and covering her neck with kisses.

“We’re going to miss the show,” Liara protests, but the feel of Shepard’s mouth against her skin removes any real force from her objections.

“It’s okay Liara, I think we know how it ends.”

“The dashing hero saves the galaxy and wins the heart of the beautiful maiden?”

“That sounds about right,” Melanie laughs happily as she feels Liara’s arms wrap around her, “Just about right.”


	2. Other Viewers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and Liara weren't the only ones watching.

The Normandy: Starboard Observation Lounge

“Another beer, James?”

“Thanks, Captain. I’m gonna need plenty of booze if it turns out these putas really demoted me to an extra.”

A flicker of biotic energy from Kaiden’s finger opened two bottles. Passing one of them to James, he sighed with exaggerated sympathy. “It’s nothing personal, Lt. Commander. Jacob got cut almost entirely. I think he was in the credits as ‘Cerberus Soldier #2.’”

“What the hell? I mean, without my 15 minutes, all I have is my killer bod to impress the ladies.”

“Listen, it’s all about money. According to Tali, the focus groups said there were too many humans in the series.”

“Too many humans?! The Normandy is an Alliance ship.”

“Sure, but they need to sell this thing to the whole galaxy. I mean, I don’t remember Captain Kirrahe being around nearly that much while   
we were hunting Saren, but the salarians are a big market and they’re pretty ambivalent about Shepard to begin with.”

“Cross-species appeal, huh. I guess that explains the shower scene with the mujer atractiva playing Samara.”

“Yeah,” said Kaiden taking a drink, “Everybody loves an asari.”

Vega laughed. “Including the commander, especially if you believe this pedazo de mierda. Did she really hook up with the Consort?”

“All I’m gonna say, James, is that that incident was before she met Liara and leave the rest to your overactive imagination.”

“Way ahead of you, Captain.”

 

Grissom Academy: Instructor’s Quarters

“Jack dear, did you actually used to wear that as a top? It’s barely a bra.”

“Nah, they changed it for the show.”

“That’s good, I mean, they shouldn’t have altered it, but…”

“The real one was smaller.”

“Smaller?! God, how did it even, I mean, what kept it on?”

As Samantha Traynor sputtered, her girlfriend laughed uproariously. “Fuck me, I dunno. Biotics helped. Just as well they covered me up a bit more; the ink on that chick is all wrong.” 

After a brief pause, Samantha got a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “Do you… do you still have it? The top, I mean.”

“Probably. Why?”

“Well, we do have that vacation on Eden Prime coming up.”

Jack grinned wickedly. “No problem; I’ll find it. At least as long as you stop hiding those videos you dug up of Aria from back when she was a dancer.” As Sam blushed an adorable shade of red, the ex-convicted slid a hand up her thigh while adding, “What, you think you’re the only one that appreciates a tough bitch?”

 

Omega: Aria T’Loak’s Private Chambers

Normally, Aria wouldn’t have bothered watching such nonsense. Still, she did have a healthy appreciation for what the humans called bread and circuses, and it had been a long time since she remembered a spectacle being as heavily promoted as this Shepard series: the sheer number of credits they’d dropped on making it impressed even a woman of her means. Hell, she’d even gotten a piece of the action for herself; the film crews shooting exteriors on Omega had brought in a nice chunk of change and only a few of them had gotten robbed while they were there.

She had to admit, it was a decent effort. Rumor had it the producers had even gotten Shepard herself to give them a couple of interviews and despite some creative liberties, they’d even taken a stab at something resembling accuracy. Still, these things were never quite right. Retaking Omega together, the commander’s skill in battle had impressed Aria more than anyone she’d ever met and that fire could never be properly replicated by an actress, at least not if you knew what the real thing looked like.

Despite it’s shortcomings however, Aria had been enjoying the vid well enough until Shepard made her first visit to Afterlife. The actress playing “The Queen of Omega” actually had pretty good delivery, but then they got to her monologue. As the remote shattered against the wall, the asari remembered why she didn’t watch this sanitized crap. “Don’t mess with Aria,” indeed.


	3. Mischief

Tuchanka: Urdnot Clan Leader’s Residence

“Dad, did that turian really save you from the Geth?”

“Ha! It was me who…”

“Morka ate all the varren jerky.”

“Now, Morka, your mother told you….”

“Dad! Grith head-butted me.”

“Grith, stop….”

“But Karok head-butted me first.”

Back before the Genophage had been cured, Urdnot Wrex, like most krogan, had dreamed of having a big family, but he had since discovered that the reality of it was often somewhat less than idyllic. After a long day of arguing with sniveling politicians and corporate idiots about a joint colonization project with the asari and elcor, all the krogan leader wanted was to eat some dinner, have a glass of ryncol, and relive a time when he could solve all of his problems with a shotgun blast to the head. Instead, he could barely hear the vid over the din, and every attempt he made to solve one problem was drowned out by two more.

Making peace was more Bakara’s area of expertise than his, but since she was away applying her skills to a dispute between two of the other clans, Wrex knew he’d have to try something else. Rewinding to the appropriate point, he loudly thumped the arm of his chair to get his brood’s attention. On the screen, the actor playing him –not nearly so devilishly handsome he thought, but at least big enough –was beating a mercenary to death with the butt of his shotgun. Turning to his progeny with a toothy grin he declared, “Listen up you little Pyjaks! You know what that batarian did?”

Before another argument could break out, Wrex bellowed, “He didn’t let your father finish his drink in peace!” As a quiet settled over the room, the krogan chief chuckled to himself. Sure, the batarian may have actually been one of the terrorists who’d tried to drop an asteroid on Terra Nova, but if the lie bought him a few minutes peace from his kids, there was no need for them to know that.

 

A Safe-House Somewhere in the Terminus Systems

As the bidding between prospective anonymized buyers continued to heat up, Kasumi Goto smiled with satisfaction at the prize sitting on the mantle behind her. Sure, the real Shepard’s Indra would doubtless have fetched an even higher price, but the prop they’d used filming the mini-series was still proving to be quite the attraction. Plus, she may have been a thief, but even she would’ve felt at least a little bit bad about breaking into the commander’s house.

This, on the other hand, served the producers right. If they expected her not to steal from them, they should’ve at least sent a royalty check. Sure, she wasn’t the easiest person to find, but a little effort would’ve been appreciated. Besides, if they hadn’t wanted to get on her bad side, they shouldn’t have cut almost all of Jacob’s screen time. Was a shirtless scene or three really too much for a girl to ask for?

 

Sanves: Melanie Shepard and Liara T’Soni’s House

“Of course,” Melanie complained as she reached down to grab a slice of pizza. “Somehow I knew they’d pick this mission to spend half an episode on.”

“I am not certain what the trouble is, love. I do not recall you telling me that this was one of your more problematic assignments during your time with Cerberus.”

Shepard shook her head as her broadcast counterpart entered a fairly convincing replica of Donovan Hock’s house. “It wasn’t. It’s just... never mind.”

As Liara idly caressed her wife’s leg, she had to admit that her curiosity was piqued, but she could be patient. Eventually, she was confident, she’d get the answer; Melanie’s sarcastic rants about the mini-series had become half of the fun of watching it for both of them.

She didn’t have long to wait. As the on-screen battle inside the vault began, the former Specter threw up her hands in exasperation. “God! I can’t believe they’ve still got me wearing it. I mean, it was annoying enough breaking into Hock’s office that way, but what kind of an idiot do they think I am that I’d get into a full-scale firefight in a cocktail dress?”

“I imagine the director thought that the audience would enjoy watching you, or rather her, in it.”

“Yeah,” Shepard sighed. “I’m sure you’re right, but it’s so impractical. Give me a regular uniform any day.”

Liara smiled mischievously. “You did not seem to mind wearing that dress for me.”

“That’s because when I wore it for you, you did delicious, delicious things to me. With Kasumi, I just got shot at.”

Liara nuzzled up closer to her bondmate. “You are being unfair to Kasumi, love. When you were the commander of the Normandy, everyone got you shot at.”

“That’s true,” Shepard conceded before leaning over for a kiss. “But at least they didn’t all make me get dressed up first.”


End file.
